nothing of
what had taken place. They found several old acquaintances on board,
among whom was Charley Roy, whom they had met frequently in the Black
Sea. Charley could talk, and was not loth to make use of his talents.

"You fellows want to know all we have done and all we expect to do out
here," he began, the very first day they were on board. "The Chinese,
in my opinion, are the most obstinate fellows in the world; besides
which they beat all others in cunning and deceit--at all events, their
diplomatists do. They have a wonderful opinion of themselves, and don't
know when they are beaten; Lord Elgin has found that out. You, of
course, have heard of the thrashing we gave the Celestials at the Bogue
Forts, Canton, Pekin, and dozens of other places, and of the expedition
hundreds of miles up the big river, the Yang-tse-kiang, till we supposed
that we had brought them to order, but they were still too clever for
us, as you shall hear. You may have heard that Lord Elgin being
desirous of going right up to Pekin to exchange the necessary
ratifications of the lately formed treaty, a squadron of gun-boats was
sent up to escort him. As soon as they arrived off the Peiho, the
admiral sent an officer to announce the approach of the British
ambassador, but the Chinese commander refused him permission to land.
Of course this showed that they meant fighting."

"Before we commenced operations, however, a reconnoissance was made to
ascertain what obstructions were in our way. In the first place we
found that the forts, which before had been destroyed, were replaced by
earthworks, mounting a large number of guns, and that the two forts
higher up on the left bank were so placed as to rake any vessels which
might advance abreast of the forts on the right, these forts being
united by raised causeways. Right across the river also were no end of
stakes and booms, some of iron, each several tons in weight, forked
above and below so as to rip up any vessel striking them. There was
also a boom composed of three stout cables, one of hemp and two of iron
chain, while some hundred yards further on were two great rafts of
timber, stretching one from each bank, a passage being left between them
of scarcely sufficient width to allow even a gun-boat to pass through.
In front of the line of forts were ditches and wide spaces of soft mud,
over which it would be scarcely possible for storming parties to pass.
The Chinese declared that the